Ruby

Ruby Language Skill

Overview

Opinionated Ruby conventions and idioms for writing idiomatic Ruby 3.x+ code. Focuses on patterns agents miss by default — the Weirich raise/fail distinction, safe nil-aware memoization, result objects over exceptions for expected failures, and performance-conscious enumeration.

Error Handling Conventions

Weirich raise/fail Convention

Use fail for first-time exceptions, raise only for re-raising:

def process(order)
  fail ArgumentError, "Order cannot be nil" if order.nil?

  begin
    gateway.charge(order)
  rescue PaymentError => e
    logger.error("Payment failed: #{e.message}")
    raise  # re-raise with raise
  end
end

Custom Exception Hierarchies

Group domain exceptions under a base error:

module MyApp
  class Error  e
  fallback ? fallback.call(e) : raise
end

user = fetch_user(999) { |_| User.new(name: "Guest") }

See references/error_handling.md for full patterns and retry strategies.

Modern Ruby (3.x+)

Pattern Matching

case response
in { status: 200, body: { users: [{ name: }, *] } }
  "First user: #{name}"
in { status: (400..), error: message }
  "Error: #{message}"
end

# Find pattern
case array
in [*, String => str, *]
  "Found string: #{str}"
end

# Pin operator
expected = 200
case response
in { status: ^expected, body: }
  process(body)
end

Other 3.x+ Features

# Endless methods (3.0+)
def square(x) = x * x
def admin? = role == "admin"

# Numbered block parameters (2.7+)
[1, 2, 3].map { _1 * 2 }

# Data class - immutable value objects (3.2+)
Point = Data.define(:x, :y)
p = Point.new(x: 1, y: 2)
p.with(x: 3)  # => Point(x: 3, y: 2)

# Hash#except (3.0+)
params.except(:password, :admin)

# filter_map (2.7+) - select + map in one pass
users.filter_map { |u| u.email if u.active? }

# tally (2.7+)
%w[a b a c b a].tally  # => {"a"=>3, "b"=>2, "c"=>1}

See references/modern_ruby.md for ractors, fiber scheduler, RBS types, and advanced pattern matching.

Performance Quick Wins

Frozen String Literals

# frozen_string_literal: true
# Add to top of every file. Prevents mutation, reduces allocations.
# When you need mutable: String.new("hello") or +"hello"

Efficient Enumeration

# each_with_object for building results (avoids intermediate arrays)
totals = items.each_with_object(Hash.new(0)) do |item, hash|
  hash[item.category] += item.amount
end

# Lazy enumerables for large/infinite sequences
(1..Float::INFINITY).lazy.select(&:odd?).map { _1 ** 2 }.first(10)

Memoization with nil/false Caveat

# Simple (only works if result is truthy)
def users = @users ||= User.all.to_a

# Safe (handles nil/false results)
def feature_enabled?
  return @feature_enabled if defined?(@feature_enabled)
  @feature_enabled = expensive_check
end

String Building

# Bad: O(n^2) with +=
result = ""; items.each { |i| result += i.to_s }

# Good: O(n) with <<
result = String.new; items.each { |i| result << i.to_s }

# Best: join
items.map(&:to_s).join

See references/performance.md for YJIT, GC tuning, benchmarking, and profiling tools.

Ruby Idioms to Prefer

Guard Clauses

def process(value)
  return unless value
  return unless value.valid?
  # main logic here
end

Literal Array Constructors

STATES = %w[draft published archived]      # word array
FIELDS = %i[name email created_at]         # symbol array

Hash#fetch for Required Keys

config.fetch(:api_key)                     # raises KeyError if missing
config.fetch(:timeout, 30)                 # default value
config.fetch(:handler) { build_handler }   # lazy default

Safe Navigation

user&.profile&.avatar_url  # returns nil if any link is nil

Predicate and Bang Conventions

• ? suffix: returns boolean (empty?, valid?, admin?)
• ! suffix: dangerous version - mutates receiver or raises on failure (save!, sort!)
• Always provide a non-bang alternative when defining bang methods

Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Fix | |---------|-----| | raise for new exceptions | Use fail; reserve raise for re-raising (Weirich convention) | | @var \|\|= compute when result can be nil/false | Use defined?(@var) check instead | | String concatenation with += in loops | Use << or .join — += is O(n²) | | rescue Exception | Rescue StandardError — Exception catches SignalException, NoMemoryError | | Deep &. chains (3+ links) | Extract to a method or use explicit nil check | | Missing # frozen_string_literal: true | Add to top of every file |

References

• references/modern_ruby.md - Pattern matching, ractors, fiber scheduler, RBS types
• references/error_handling.md - Exception hierarchies, result objects, retry patterns
• references/performance.md - YJIT, GC tuning, benchmarking, profiling
• references/ood-philosophy.md - OOD principles, naming, SOLID, TRUE heuristic, Law of Demeter

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: zarpay
• Source: zarpay/rails-template
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.